Enhancing learning and teaching through the use of digital technology

Introduction

Our Vision

The Scottish Government is committed to improving education in Scotland and delivering the best possible life chances for all of our children and young people. The National Improvement Framework and Scottish Education Delivery Plan demonstrate this commitment. Our overarching vision for Scottish Education is therefore clear:

• excellence through raising attainment: ensuring that every child achieves the highest standards in literacy and numeracy, set out within Curriculum for Excellence levels, and the right range of skills, qualifications and achievements to allow them to succeed; and
• achieving equity: ensuring that every child has the same opportunity to succeed, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

Digital technology can make a substantial contribution to this improvement agenda by enriching education across all areas of Curriculum for Excellence. If used effectively and appropriately, digital technology can enhance learning and teaching, equip our children and young people with vital digital skills and crucially, it can lead to improved educational outcomes.

Digital technology is already embedded within Scottish education. It has a place within Curriculum for Excellence, Initial Teacher Education and the Professional Standards set by the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS). Despite the pervasive nature of digital technology, its benefits are not always fully felt within our education establishments ^[2] . This strategy aims to improve the current situation by creating the conditions to allow all of Scotland's educators, learners and parents to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technology in order to raise attainment, ambition and opportunities for all.

Aim of the Strategy

In order to realise our vision, partners at both a national and local level must work together to achieve all four of the following essential and interrelated objectives that are central to successful digital learning, teaching and assessment ^[3] :

• Develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology to support learning and teaching
• Improve access to digital technology for all learners
• Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery
• Empower leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching

Achieving Our Objectives

This strategy sets out a series of actions to be delivered at a national level under each objective; and these national level actions form the main focus of this document. These actions will shape our approach over the next 3-5 years. However, success cannot materialise at a national level alone and consequently, this strategy also sets out a number of expectations of our local authorities and education establishments.

The Scottish Government is firm in its belief that our local authorities, schools and early learning and childcare establishments are best positioned to know how digital technology can enrich education in their own local contexts. It is for that reason that the local level expectations that are laid out in this strategy are general in nature. They seek to complement actions at a national level while also allowing education establishments and local authorities the flexibility to effectively incorporate digital technology in the way best suited to them.

Taken as a whole, these actions and expectations will form the foundations that will allow digital technology to enhance learning and teaching across all areas of Curriculum for Excellence. We can then build on those foundations to ensure that digital technology is a key consideration in the planning and delivery of all future learning and teaching.

Beneficiaries of the Strategy

As this is an educational strategy, the ultimate beneficiaries of this strategy will be Scotland's learners aged 3-18. The appropriate and effective use of digital technology within education will give all of our learners the opportunity to improve their educational outcomes and to develop digital skills that will be vital for life, learning and work in today's increasingly digitised world. The benefits of this strategy also extend to our teachers and early learning and childcare practitioners who will receive training that will allow them to become skilled in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology. Parents and carers will also be able to capitalise on the increased use of digital technology to communicate more readily and easily with their child's school or early learning provider and stay up to date with, and support their child's learning. Both the digital industry and wider economy will similarly benefit as our future workforce will possess a level of digital skills considered essential in occupations across a wide range of sectors.

Approach to Strategy Development

This strategy has been developed using an extensive consultation process from which strategic principles, objectives and actions have emerged. The process comprised a comprehensive public consultation, direct engagement with children and young people and extensive discussions with delivery partners and other prominent stakeholders in the Scottish education sector.

An overview of the strategy development process can be found in Annex D.

The Role of the Scottish Government and National Bodies

To help to achieve our objectives, the Scottish Government and national level delivery partners will work with local partners to ^[4] :

The Role of Local Authorities

To help achieve our shared objectives, local authorities are asked to develop local strategies which will take forward the following key actions:

The Role of our Education Establishments

To help achieve our shared objectives, our education establishments are asked to take forward the following key actions: